


Simulated Reality

by Linorien



Series: 007 Fest 2017 [2]
Category: James Bond (Craig movies), James Bond - All Media Types, NCIS
Genre: D&D, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-04
Updated: 2017-07-04
Packaged: 2018-11-22 22:44:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11389971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Linorien/pseuds/Linorien
Summary: A mission to a desert fortress to rescue a doctor. In reality or in fiction, the two can be suspiciously similar.





	1. Twilight Council says no.

**Author's Note:**

> No knowledge of NCIS is necessary, but enjoy the easter eggs if you are familiar.  
> Thanks also to the 00Q chat for helping me with names and to Cas for deciding 0016 is nonbinary. I think they will be back in future stories.

 [](http://imgur.com/OTq3OqA)

Q watched his screen as his friends came online. It was rare that all of them could find a time to meet up for D&D. Busy work lives compounded with a five hour time zone difference complicated things. 

“What’s the plan this week?” Abby asked. “We aren't at the usual mission headquarters.”

The other players also looked also looked around the world Q had built in virtual reality. It was one of the reasons he loved playing with this group. They all had powerful enough systems to handle the detail of the world and they didn't question how he was so good at it. 

“That is correct. If everyone is ready, we can explain in game.”

Buttons were hit and their avatars loaded into the world. Abby’s nightwalker, Viternian, was already looking around. Moneypenny loaded in her dragonborn, Drilla, dark green scales glistening in the afternoon sun. Then Elflord, with his oversized swords, appeared as a stand-in for Tim. A raven suddenly flew in and landed on Elflord’s shoulder, a letter in its beak.

“Wow, Hogwarts much, Q?” Moneypenny teased. 

“Hush, Penny,” Q reprimanded. “Just read the letter.”

Tim opened the letter. “It’s from Corinakus’s assistant. He says that the doctor has been captured by the Grenfell corporation.”

“Oh no!” Abby said. “That’s the one that does bad human experiments. I knew we should’ve burned it down.”

“Abby!”

“What?” Viternian pointed her black umbrella at Elflord. “If you had listened to me we wouldn’t have to go rescue Corinakus.”

“Rescue? Who said anything about rescue? I haven’t even finished reading the letter!” He waved the paper and dislodged the raven.

“I’m with Viternian,” Drilla said, hands on her hips. “He saved our lives; we owe him. Where does it say he is being held?”

Time scanned the rest of the letter. “Uh oh. He’s at an outpost in Umbrawood.”

This proclamation was met with silence. Q sighed. This is what happens when you haven’t played in three months. “It’s a forest full of dark magic,” he reminded them. “The Twilight Council has forbidden entrance. And those who do still enter, are very rarely heard from again.”

“Oh. Well we have to risk it then.” Viternian wasn’t going to let dark magic stand in her way. With her trusty umbrella by her side, she would be safe. Besides, many beings considered nightwalkers like her to be part of the evil downworld, but that was nonsense. “Which way to the forest?”

“It’s agreed then?” Q asked. “You are going to rescue Corinakus from enemy territory against the wishes of your government?”

“Not any more ridiculous than what I do at work,” Tim muttered. “I’m in.”

With a grin, Q moves their avatars to the border of the woods. 

***

Looking down on the border from a nearby ridge, Viternian, Drilla, and Elflord survey the scene. Guards from the Council patrol the border–wands out, swords on their belt. Beyond them was a stretch of no man’s land–redcap holes, pardoc flytraps, and corssan fires would all ensure no one made it across alive.

“How are we getting past that?” Drilla asked. “Viternian might be good at stealth, but we don’t all excel at that.”

“Actually, all of these deterrents are for people on the ground,” Elflord said. “Drilla, could you carry us over them?”

“In my other form, you mean? I could try. Where would we land?” she asked. 

“I can just make out a possible clearing,” Viternian said. She pointed. “Maybe four miles straight ahead and then slightly to the North.”

“You’ll have to direct me with your legs once I am transformed. Remember I lose by ability to understand Common when in my full dragon form.”

“And you can carry both of us on your back?” Elflord asked. 

“If I roll high enough,” Moneypenny said.

“Alright, Penny, roll for athletics,” Q said. “And Abby roll for animal handling.”

“Can I roll for that as well?” Tim asked. “That’s one of my specialties.”

Q said sure and they all gave him their rolls. He laughed and narrated what happened as they experienced it.

Drilla told them to stand back and transformed into an eighteen foot long dragon. She gave a full body shake to loosen her muscles. Viternian and Elflord climbed on her back. The nightcrawler pulled down the hood of her cape and pulled up her face cover to protect her skin from the sun. Then she gave a squeeze of her knees and Drilla launched them into the air.

They easily flew over the drop off and powerful wings kept them far above the detection range of the corssan fires. However, those same wing beats also alerted the elven guards to their presences. 

Warning shouts were called out and wands were raised to the sky. Bolts of light flew toward the adventurers. Drilla rolled and swerved to avoid them. She was doing good until one hit her left wing and she screamed in pain. Elflord and Viternian did all they could to steer, but they ended up missing the clearing by twenty feet and crashing into the canopy. As they fell, they startled a centrigul and it hissed at them, baring its pointed teeth.

Viternian hissed back.

Halfway through the fall, Dilla changed back to her more humanoid form and all three landed in a pile on the forest floor. 

***

After rolling high for nature, Elflord lead the party in the correct direction. In the short walking break, Q’s phone buzzed with a text message from Moneypenny.

_ A hostage in a foreign land the government forbids access to? Really Q? _

Q only smiled and set his phone back down.

***

The team of adventures hacked through forest growth and fought off small creatures. One small one was downed with a fireball from Elflord. Another took a longer battle and ultimately succumbed to a potion thrown by Viternian that caused it to melt into a puddle. She refused to say just what the ingredients were. However it was near the edge of the forest when the big monster same. 

“What. Is. that.” Drilla looked with horror at the creature that was facing outward from the forest. 

It had eight legs, thick like an elephant. At the end of the feet, three long claws. It stood twice Drilla’s height with a large body covered in hide and a row of spikes down the spine. A bone ridge fanned out behind its head. 

“Do you think we can sneak around it?” Elflord asked. 

“We can try,” Viterninan said weakly. But even with her natural stealth, she started to skirt the creature through the woods and managed to rustle enough leaves that it heard. 

With a ferocious bellow, it leapt straight up in the air, turning as it did, to land facing Viternian. 

“I guess that is a no,” she squeaked and backed away. “Why does it have cute ears? This is so weird. Q! What on earth is this?”

“I thought you might enjoy the cute purple furry ears,” he laughed. “This is a Zefferite. Guardians of the forest and not a fan of trespassers.”

“We gathered that,” Drilla said dryly. “How do we defeat it?”

“As if I would tell you. Roll for initiative.”

***

Elflord struck first, shooting a bolt of lightning at the ears, hoping that those were its primary sense. He delivered a glancing blow, singing the tuffs of hair, but it also reflected off the bone ridge and narrowly missed Viternian on the rebound. 

The nightcrawler went next, throwing an exploding snap beneath its legs. It only made it angry. 

Drilla leapt onto the creature’s back and dug her claws into the soft skin right behind the ridge. This proved most effective. 

The Zefferite tried to throw her off, bucking wildly, but she clung on. The others concentrated their attacks on it’s legs. It kept spinning but eventually they weakened enough of them to let Drilla work better. Elflord then drew his swords and leapt for the eyes at the front. It could not longer fight them off and it finally was weakened enough to be harmless. 

Elflord and Drilla climbed down. They began to walk onwards but Viternian stopped them.

“Can we at least put it out of it’s misery?” she asked. “It really was only doing it’s job.”

They acquiesced and she gave it a potion to drink that quickly, painlessly killed the creature. She gave it a scratch behind the ears like a cat and then led the way out of the forest. 

***

Q initiated another jump through space to the desert which surrounded the Grenfell Corporation building. They were close enough to the building that Tim cast Veil of Shadows and a high roll ensured that all of them became nearly invisible. 

However they still had to erase their footprints. Moneypenny remembered that she could transform part way into her hybrid form. It made her more vulnerable to attack, but it did give her a tail to sweep back and forth behind them. 

It also helped that it was nearly midnight. Any guards would likely be drowsy and the simple fact that is was dark limited visibility. Of course it limited the vision of the trio as well. Only a good roll from Moneypenny kept them from needing to engage in another round of combat. 

They dropped to the ground and laid as flat as they could when the guard walked near them. But once he was out of the way, it was simple to walk through the door of the premises. The door was open to let the cool nighttime air blow through the building and release the heat that had built up during the day. 

From there, it was surprisingly easy to sneak around until they found where the doctor was being held. Viternian threw a smoke bomb that incapacitated the solitary guard and they were able to grab their friend. 

They tried to go for a quiet escape, but Tim rolled a critical one. 

***

“What did you do that for?” Drilla hissed at Elflord.

“I tripped! I threw my arms out to catch my balance,” he defended. “How was I to know that was a hidden panel to activate an alarm system?”

“Well maybe if you watched your step, this wouldn’t have happened. What did you trip over anyways? The floor is smooth!”

“Hey!” Viternian cut in. “Now is not the time for arguing.” The sounds of running could be heard under the sound of the klaxon. “Now is the time for fleeing.”

With a nod, they ran haphazardly through the building, trying to remember how they got down here while still avoiding the security. 

A phaser shot down the corridor and only Viternian’s quick reflexes let her bend out of the way. She then used her umbrella as a makeshift shield and charged down the guard, yelling a warcry as she did so. 

From there combat started again but it was over quickly as a different alarm started going off and the guards started running away.

“What does that alarm mean? Drilla asked. 

Viternian was still. “Not to get too out of character, but that sounds like the alarm my lab has when there is a dangerous chemical leak. I suggest we follow the guards. They probably know the fastest way out.”

Right as always, the alarm did signal a chemical danger and nearly everyone made it out alive. Elflord did not bother with stealth as they ran across the desert; everyone else was also doing the same. 

An explosion rolled across the land. Turning around, they watched as the large stone building listed to the side and then collapsed inwards and became lost under a cloud of sand. The cloud rolled outward and as it reached them, the simulation faded out.


	2. MI6 says yes.

“Congratulations,” Q said. “You successfully rescued the doctor. He was able to guide you through a secret path in the forest that his captors had used. The twilight Council wasn’t too pleased, but they did welcome the doctor back and were glad he, and all of you, are alive.”

They cheered. “So why a special mission this week?” Time asked.

“I needed to test something in a real world analogy and this made it more enjoyable.”

“And was it?” Abby asked. 

“Enjoyable and useful,” Q replied.

***

The next day found Q in one of the private control rooms. Meant for running high security clearance missions, there were only three screens and one keyboard from which to control them. He was currently monitoring 0016. Their flight departed late last night, after the D&D session. 

He had given them a compact hang glider that had just been approved for the field last month. Shara had been monitoring while he slept; she left a video file of Alex gliding off the cliff and over the heads of the border guards. Not one of them looked of as they glided overhead. 

And, unlike other double-ohs, Alex had then recollapsed the wings and taken the glider with them. It might even make it back in one piece. 

Right now, they were making their way across the desert. The sun at their back helped the guards to not see the agent covered in a sand painted cloak army crawling across the empty expanse. 

“You’re sure this is the best way, Q,” they asked. 

“Yes I am. The simulations were all run in realistic settings. And besides, this is a stealth mission and not one the government actually approved of.”

“I know, which means I can’t steal a helicopter.”

“Among other things. It also means that should anybody ask, you rented a sailboat to meet up with an old friend in Sweden and backpack through Germany.”

“But I hate camping, you know that.”

Q smiled, though the agent could not see. “Which is why, if anyone asks, your friend talked you into it, you hated it, and don’t even want to think about it, let alone talk about it.”

“I can pull that off,” they replied with a grin before going radio silence to avoid getting sand in their mouth. 

***

When the next satellite passed over, Q was pleased to see no evidence of the agent’s path across the desert. Radio silence was still observed, but Q could hear a change in the ambient sounds that indicated that they had made their way into the old stone fortress. 

Q couldn’t see much from the satellite image. Despite being fiercely determined to rescue Dr. Corin, Q wished that he had better intel. It was all a bit of a rushed mission. 

Dr. Prescott had told M that her close friend and past employee of MI6 had been kidnapped. She had been on an aid mission when everything went wrong. Dr. Corin had been checking in via video conference, telling Dr. Prescott about the young doctors also there with them, some who might be good people to hire one day. They were actually reminiscing about their time together in Ecuador when the sounds of shouting and gunfire broke their laughter. 

Dr. Corin was hauled out of her chair and the computer slammed shut. It was only through Dr. Prescott’s quick thinking that they had a recording of the rest of the skype audio and were able to hear where they would be taking the group. Q was once again glad he was able to give a seminar on computer habits for intelligence collecting to his colleagues. Without it, the high quality audio recording would not have been available to them. 

M had brought the matter to the appropriate people. However, their hands were tied. Without a ransom, there was no firm proof of their kidnapping or even that they were alive. Official surveillance revealed nothing. They could do nothing. 

But MI6 refused to abandon their own. 

Q used his own skills to discover the path they took. It lead to this stone building in the middle of a sizeable desert. Their intel on this area was outdated. Last known occupants were a family who had inherited the place but only visited for occasional holidays. Only the many tyre tracks leading up the drive spoke otherwise. 

0016 was an easy agent, only requiring a little remote assistance to work the unlocking gadget they had in order to open the cell doors on the dungeon. Dr. Corin and the others seemed alright, albeit traumatised by their experience and what they had seen in the rest of the facility. Horrified enough that neither Q nor 0016 felt any guilt in blowing things up on their way out. 

From the agent’s mobile, Q had finally been able to gain access to the local wifi and proceeded to trigger various safety alarms that sent everyone running for the exits. He watched the satellite image refresh and listened to the sound of his agent escaping with a smile.

Moneypenny walked in. 

“You didn’t have access to this room,” Q said with a frown.

“R let me in.” She held up a sandwich from the cafeteria. “She said you haven’t eaten since you got in this morning.”

Q sighed. “I guess I am hungry.” He took the offered food. “But I know that was just an excuse to talk to me.” He waved his hand for her to speak while he took a large bite. A bit of crab was left on his lips and his tongue darted out to grab it. 

“You used D&D to plan this mission,” she said, gesturing at the computer monitors. “That seems a bit, risky.”

“It’s really not. Only the basic premise was the same. Without knowing, would you have guessed where the fortress was located? Would you have immediately assumed it was a mission?”

“I suppose not,” she conceded. 

“And even if they did, you know as well as I do that Abby and Tim have decent security clearance in their own agency. They understand the importance of keeping secrets. I know for a fact Abby also designs video games to help her work out problems.”

“We made it across the desert, Q” the agent reported in over the speakers. 

“Well done. Head for the arranged rendezvous as planned. I will update them of your eta. Any injuries?”

“Nothing they have not treated themselves. I suppose travelling with fellow doctors is useful.”

“Excellent. I will transfer you to Eric then. Over and out.”

“Thanks Q. Over and out.” 

Q hit the necessary buttons and began to close down the workstation.

“I still think it was a risk, but I’m glad it worked,” Moneypenny said. 

“Me too. But I promise next time will be back to normal adventuring. I have something special planned for you, Drilla,” he hinted with a grin. “Let’s just say it will be, illuminating.”


End file.
